Page 9 - Reedley Expodent 12-21-17 e-edition

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
Section | Thursday, December 21, 2017 www.reedleyexponent.com
See this year's Exponent Christmas cookie winners See B10
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
RC board
report for
December
Contributed
Here are highlights from the Reedley College board report for December:
ACCREDITATION UPDATE
Reedley College now is in the evidence-collecting stage in its fi- nal preparation for its submission to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) in early January. The In- stitutional Self-Evaluation Report was scheduled to go before the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees for ap- proval again this month.
A portion of the Spring 2018 Opening Day agenda will be de- voted to preparing for the AC- CJC accreditation team visit set for March 2018. This will include celebrating MOR successes with a group activity and examining frequently asked questions about accreditation.
All employees are being en- couraged to go online to http:// www.accjc-accreditationcourse. org/take the Accreditation Basics Course.
RMCHS
• RMCHS participated in the annual Reedley College Opening/ Closing Ceremonies for FFA. The RMCHS FFA officer team placed first overall, and 162 RMCHS stu- dents participated.
• RMCHS seniors viewed the Reedley College Online Orienta- tion on Dec. 1.
• Juniors took a trip to visit Cal Poly Pomona university on Dec. 8. • The RMCHS Drama Club visited the Sierra View Homes
See RC REPORT page B6
A promise for the future
KCUSD students can earn free tuition for their first semester at RC
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
Jasmin Montes, a sixth-grader at Silas Bartsch School, said she had never been to Reedley College before she and her classmates went there on Dec. 15. But Jasmin took one look inside a physical science classroom and its different experi- ments and was inspired.
“I want to be a scientist,” she said.
Reedley College and the Kings Canyon Unified School District are part of the Central Valley Promise that launched in November 2016 at Fresno State.
“ We want them to be seeing that thy can set their sights high."
– Sandra Caldwell, president of Reedley College
The promise? If sixth-graders and their families pledge to fulfill specific steps – such as maintaining a 2.7 grade point average or higher by they time they graduate from high school – their tuition will be free their first semester at any col- lege in the State Center Community College District. Reedley College is part of that system.
The response that Jasmin had during her visit was the type of con- nection that educators want to see happen.
Reedley College’s Dec. 15 event was the first Central Valley Prom- ise kickoff at a participating college in the CVP program. The event in- cluded a campus tour for students and a spirited rally in the RC gym. KCUSD sixth-graders were among
ABOVE:Thiscrowdofsixth-gradestudentsandschoolrepresentativesfromtheKingsCanyonUnifiedSchoolDistrict enjoythe rally that was part of the Central Valley Promise kickoff event at Reedley College on Dec. 15. The participating schools include Silas Bartsch,T.L.Reed,Grantandothers.
Photos by Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
the estimated 1,500 sixth-graders who attended the event, with peers from Dinuba Unified and Cutler- Orosi Joint Unified.
Sandra Caldwell, Reedley Col- lege president, said in an interview after the rally that educators want to instill in these students a belief that they can accomplish what educators believe they can achieve.
“We have to have them know that they can do it. And, if they’re going
to put in the work, the schools are going to work,” Caldwell said. “We’re going to be together with our schools to help make this a possibility for them.”
She said educators and others want these young students “to be seeing that they can set their sights high.”
“There’s no reason they can’t be engineers, that they can’t be in high- level manufacturing, that they can’t
LEFT: Maricela Gutierrez, an
ESL counselor at Reedley College, was the tour guide for sixth-graders from Silas Bartsch School during
the Central Valley Promise kickoff event Dec. 15 at the college.
Sixth-grade stu- dents from other Kings Canyon Unified School campuses also attended the event aimed at focusing youngsters on higher education and careers.
be in high-level careers.”
And, there’s a vital reason to
encourage young students to focus on higher education – analysts and educators estimate that California is facing a shortfall of about 1 million college graduates to meet economic demand by 2030. Caldwell said that if educators and others wait until high school to talk to students about their futures, “we’re waiting too late.”
Nearly 60 Silas Bartsch students took their tour of Reedley College with Maricela Gutierrez, who is an ESL counselor at the college. The tour included stops at the aeronau- tics program, the campus farm, Fo- rum Hall, and Student Services. The students also took a group picture in front of the campus’ iconic tiger statue.
Noelle Spencer, a Silas Bartsch teacher who accompanied the stu- dents with teacher Josie Dela Rosa, said the students had been asking all kinds of questions during the visit. For example, “What does it take to be a teacher? Do you have to go to a college like this?”
Jasmin said the STEM demon- strations caught her interest. (STEM stands for Science, Technology, En- gineering and Math.) The demon- strations included one by Melissa Fujioka involving spherification that generally is a culinary process that shapes liquid into spheres. In
See PROMISE page B9
The View From Here
Felicia Cousart Matlosz's column will
return.
Santa visits the Reedley Library
Wherever Santa Claus ap- pears, there's sure to be a crowd. On Dec. 13, the Reed- ley Library hosted a visit from Santa. In fact, he was making his way to a number of branches that are part of the Fresno County library system.
The idea was to give families an opportunity to take pictures with the jolly ol' man from the North Pole. Families were asked to bring their own smartphones and cameras. They also were treated to milk (or water) and sugar cookies. The children, of course, made sure to tell Santa what
they wanted for Christmas. Reedley Library officials said 49 children and 49 parents came to the event.
LEFT: Sawyer Lozano, 1 1/2 years old, and his sister, Em- ery Lozano, 3, were happy to see Santa at the Dec. 13 event.
See more photos on B9.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
Meet The Exponent cookie contest winner: Katie Baker
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
There’s a story behind every cookie recipe, and Katie Baker’s sto- ry is poignant and joyful.
Baker is the winner of The Expo- nent’s 17th Annual Christmas Cook-
ie Contest. Her delectable Swedish Christmas Cookies took the top prize of a $75 gift certificate from Town and Country Market.
Baker (and, yes, could that last
See BAKER page B10
Katie Baker is the winner of this year's Exponent Christmas Cookie Contest
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent